Lowering the Front End

[Freebird]

Submitted by bbstacker:

 

ok, actually it was easier than I thought it would be, if you just jack up the front of the bike so the wheel is off the ground it is easier. first the front half of the fairing comes off, you have the small chrome strip on top with 2 screws, then you have 7 more for the front half of the fairing, 6 on the back and 1 under the headlight, then the windshield, 8 small screws holding that on. Once you have the front half of the fairing off, you may have to unplug just a few of the cables, I did the bigger round ones, because once you take out 2 nuts that hidden behind all the cables, once you get those off, you can pull the other half of the fairing away from the triple tree. Now you need to make sure you have a good pad laying across your tank for your handle bars to rest on. There 2 allen bolts on the front side of the triple that hold the bracket on for the fairing, take off the handle bars, then the big nut and washer holding the top of the triple tree. Just loosen the 4 bolts (2 on each side)used to clap the top part of the triple tree to the forks, take the top part off, you then can slide the 2 top fork covers off, there will be a big washer and rubber gasket inside. Before you loosen the 4 (2 on each side) bolts on the bottom part of the triple tree, make sure you mark where the forks are set, so you can measure up 1 inch from that mark down to top side of the bottom of the triple tree,once all the bolts are loose the forks will probably slide on you. All you have to do is either slide the forks up or down to get your 1 inch, lock one side then measure and lock the other side, put the covers back on making sure you put the washer and rubber gasket in correctly, put the top of the triple tree back on,then the washer and nut, tighten that then reinstall the 2 allen bolts, everything is just in reverse putting it back together. All this may sound complicated but trust me it is not, it's about a two hour job, that is unless you get it back together and forget to put the two forks covers back on like I did and have to take it apart again. I didn't take any pictures, I should have. As far as the kickstand, no problem, bike still leans on it the same just shorter, I will say the bike comes up on center way easier also. If you find you don't like it it's easy to change it back, myself, no way will I change it back. I have 40 lbs of air in the shock, I ride 2up and pull a trailer, (one that I made)and no the pipes don't drag. Hope this explains it well enough, if not send me an email and I'll try and do a better job. I would find a hard time believing you won't like the new ride. Good luck, any questions be sure to email me, I've been riding for over 40 years and do most of my own maintenance and all of my own mods. Hey I know this isn't for everyone, but that's what choices are all about. Take care and ride safe.

 

Picture courtesy of Rosebud.

[rjmalizia]

Great Idea, But what about the TD. I would love to try this one, but with my 97 RDTD, I have all that aluminum shrouding around my forks. Does anyone out there know if the shrouds will smiply stay in position, relative to the headset, or would they need to be modified. And then there is the question of the shrouds becoming too long, and hitting the front fender should the front end bottom out.

 

Any thought and or opinion for a short legged rider would be appreciated...please don't suggest high heels [i can admit it, I just don't look good in stilettos:rotf:].

 

 

thanks all...

[Guest SALTY]

I believe they will unbolt while doing this mod then bolt back on same size ne all! The fork actiually slides up in the triple tree to lower the front.

[Carbon_One]

Ok couple of questions here. Well a few more than a couple.

First off is this mod a way of leveling the bike as opposed to raising the rear with the extended shock links?

2nd does this lower the saddle height for thos who are verticaly challenged?

3rd what about the ground clearances when cornering?

4th how was the road handling/steering afterward on lowering the front?

Larry

[Guest SALTY]

Ok couple of questions here. Well a few more than a couple.

First off is this mod a way of leveling the bike as opposed to raising the rear with the extended shock links?

2nd does this lower the saddle height for thos who are verticaly challenged?

3rd what about the ground clearances when cornering?

4th how was the road handling/steering afterward on lowering the front?

Larry

 

hi Larry! Now i havent done mine yet but a friend did also using Barons rear kit. he is shorter in the leg and needed it. Me? Im thinking 3/4 an inch front only.

yes this would level the bike out and perhaps lower the seat a touch also with no cornering issues at all. he says the steering is remarkeably better, probably akin to the 130 tire change.

 

i pushed my bike up on a 1 x 4 last weekend on the rear end and noticed a bit of difference..so thats actually 3/4.

if a person isnt worried about leg length then this would be the way to go....quick n easy whereas the front method is a couple hours, however a bit adjustable too!

 

I havent forgotten about your lift adapters I will be in touch in the new year for one!

[bbstacker]

Sorry, I've been off the computer for awhile and didn't see the questions that were posted. I just wanted to add my opinions on this mod I did. First my bike handles a 100% better than before, I've not had any problems what so ever with cornering or the scraping of pipes, I ride two up most times and keep 40lbs of air in the shock. The mod was very easy to do, took me about an hour and half and that's only because I had not had the front fairing off before. It does lower the seat, I have short legs and before lowering the back and front I was on tip toes when I stopped, now I have both feet flat on the ground, one inch does make a difference, to me I have much better handling at slower speeds. There's no way I'd change my bike back and if I were to get another one, those would be the very mods I would do. Any other questions send me an email, when it finally warms up I'll take some pictures and post.

Terry

[Dragracer]

BBSTACKER, did you lower the front end only, or front and rear?

[bbstacker]

I lowered both the front and rear, I used the Baron's kit on the back end, one other thing I noticed right off also was how much easier it was to get up on center. I have a couple of friends that were not even considering the venture till they sat on mine, they were looking for a touring bike for the longer trips and they had sat on mine before and after the changes I made and couldn't believe the difference lowering 1" makes.

[Guest 2mike2]

Do not attempt this mod if you do not have a well stocked tool box including hex heads on sockets an a large socket for the steering nut I used a 1 1/16 12 point socket to do the job.

 

I have to appologize as I did not take any pics either.... I know, bad mike

 

This mod took me significantly longer than 2 hours, but some of that was chasing tools.

 

Its sunday 530PM on Christmas eve. I am not finished yet, as i do not have a garage was working in the car port.

 

See bb's notes if my commentary confuses you.

 

Well, here goes ....I did not have a jack to jack up the front end, so i did it the poor mans way.

 

I took the front half of the faring off .... be careful with the crome strip it breaks easy. I took the screw out from under the head light and the others in the back of the faring. I believe these were 3mm hex head screws.

 

I took off the windshield again 3mm hex head screws.

 

I had troubles removing the faring. I had had the Yamaha passing lights put on and they interfered with the bottom ridge on the faring. I had to use a very long 5mm hex head to loosen the screws for the light bar.

 

After the front faring came off, I removed the 12 mm nuts from behind the light .... they hold the faring on and the two hex head nuts on the sides of the light bracket. I unplugged a lot of the cables as well so i could see what i was doing. do not worry they are color coded.

 

The tripple tree is the device your handle bars mount to.

 

There are two long allen screws on the front side of the tripple tree. Take these out. Mine were black.

 

I padded the tank as suggested... thank god for the suggestion or thank bb that is.

 

I marked the position of my handle bars on the hold down clamps and removed the two clamps. This released the handle bars. There are two rubber vibration dampners? under the forks, and these came off to.

 

The big nut on the top of the tripple tree was a challenge. This is where I used my 1 1/16 inch socket. The nut came off but the washer was stuck. no bother i went on.

 

I loosened the 4 bolts on the side of the tripple tree. I left a few threads in as suggested. It took some persuading to get it off, and resorted to a hammer. I did not have a rubber mallet, but I could see no cosmetic damage.

 

You slide the fork covers off and take off the washer and rubber gasket. The washer is on the bottom, the gasket is on the top. There is a ridge on the top of the gasket, it is facing the top of the fork.

 

I then marked the forks with a sharpee and loosened the 4 allen screws, two on each side.

 

The forks/mark needs to go up to lower the bike. I was unsure of this till i read a further post. seemed logical in thinking but wanted to be sure.

 

My forks did not slide, I had to coax them. To do this, I bounced on the right floor board until the fork moved. I stopped at 7/8 of an inch. not for any scientific reason, i didnt know how i would get the fork back down if i went over an inch. Looking at the mark on the fork, it looked like a lot more than 7/8 inch.....

 

I tightened the right fork and went to the left side. That forked had only slid about 1/4 inch, so I straddled the bike and bounced up and down till I got to 7/8 inch.

 

I tightened the left side down and rechecked all screws to ensure they were tight. I am glad I did.

 

I started re-assembling the forks being very careful to double check that the parts went on where they should have.

 

First the washer, then the rubber gasket, then the cover.

 

The tripple tree took some pusuading to get back on. Be sure you align the center stem in the hole.

 

After persuading the tripple tree into place, I put the washer and nut back on.

 

I forgot to tighen the four side screws at this time, saw my error when I was putting the handle bars on and went back and tightened them.

 

Be careful to route your cable correctly as you are mounting your handle bars and do not forget to put the vibration dampners back in. I did at first so........

 

That is where I stopped for the night. I was getting tired and did not want to make any more mistakes.

 

The rest is fairly straight forward re-assembly.. will send an adendum if i have any problems.

 

dont know if ill get to ride tomorrow, rain forcasted. will give you my impressions of the mod at a later date.

 

Merry Christmas all, ride safely and enjoy life.